updated 04:55 pm EST, Fri March 6, 2009

QT, Cocoa in Snow Leopard

Apple is distributing a new build of Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its developer community, adding a redesigned QuickTime Player and a Cocoa-based desktop. AppleInsider reports that beta 10A286 was released Friday morning, with a completely redesigned version of QuickTime thought to be QuickTime X, featuring a minimal user interface geared towards playback. The first-ever Cocoa-based desktop is said to include updated info windows and contextual menus.

Apple is also believed to have told developers about a dozen significant issues remaining with Mac OS X 10.6, which may require several months of work before a release candidate is ready. The new build arrives a month after build 10A261, which featured Core Location and multi-touch frameworks, new printer driver delivery and unique visual additions, such as a Put Back option in Finder and a grid-view interface for stacks.

If snow leopard drops PPC support, AND it comes out in Jan 2010, then the newest PowerMac not supported would be 3 years old. It seems early, but perhaps Apple's zeal to make great computers now (or THEN) means dropping old HW earlier than normal (5 years).

My CD Gen1 iMac is already 3 years old. It will be 4 in 2010 and ready for replacement. Snow leopard will be a nice improvement.